Familiar Strangers
by ShadowsintheFlames
Summary: Once upon a time, Rose Tyler believed in impossible things and happily ever after. But that was years ago. Before the man that she loved and fought for abandon her. Rose doesn't believe anymore. Then one day, Rose meets a stranger in a bowtie and tweed jacket. Why does he seem so familiar? What is it about this familiar stranger that draws Rose in?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hi! So, I feel guilty for my tardiness in updating Forever. I'm still working on it, but school keeps getting in the way. This has just been lying around for weeks and it's just the beginning. It's just a short prologue. Let me know what you think!**

**disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

**Prologue**

The Doctor felt guilt creeping into the corners of his mind as he carried little Amelia Pond into her house and tucked her in. He had always regretted promising five minutes and returning twelve years late. He should have known better by than to make promises of any kind.

Well, it had taken a while, but he here was, nearly on time.

Amelia unconsciously snuggled into the covers as the Doctor tucked her in.

The Doctor sat down beside her bed, watching her sleep. Then he began to tell her a story. The story of a young Time Lord who borrowed a blue box and ran away. He always meant to return it, but he went on, travelling in his blue box, having wonderful adventures and making new friends wherever he went. All stories had an end though, he just hoped Amelia would remember this one.

The Doctor finished his story. He looked at Amelia again. She was still fast asleep.

"The cracks are closing. But they can't close properly until I'm on the other side. I don't belong here anymore. I think I'll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats." the Doctor said to the sleeping little girl. "Live well. Love Rory. Bye-bye Pond."

The Doctor kissed the girl on the forehead and stepped away. He was almost tempted to continue. He could see Rose again. The events of the last year of his tenth self were too painful to revisit though.

Instead, the Doctor took a step toward the crack in Amelia's wall, knowing it was time to end it all. Maybe he would find some peace in the Void.

At least he would be closer to Rose, the Void would no longer be between them.

The Doctor braced himself, and stepped into the white light. Funny, he had always thought the Void would be black.

It was the strangest sensation. The Doctor could feel himself being unraveled from existence itself, his entire life peeling away in layers.

He was fading...

Suddenly, the Doctor was facing a golden light through all the white. It touched him, and he felt himself being woven back together. What could have that kind of power?

The Doctor took a step closer, then another (_what was he even walking on?_), not daring yet to hope that the golden light was his salvation. Maybe Amy had done it. She remembered him, and now the golden light would take him back to her.

The Doctor walked on, and allowed himself to be enveloped in the golden light.

The world was nothing but gold. It felt soft and comfortable. Was that how it was supposed to feel?

Time felt warped.

Then suddenly, it was gone. The golden light faded.

The Doctor looked around, then felt his hearts skip a beat.

No, this was impossible.

* * *

**Please review! :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here's the first chapter! Yet another story that begins with the Bad Wolf Bay scene from "Journey's End."**

**Enjoy!**

**disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

_Rose grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and kissed him. It was an amazing kiss. It was deep and passionate. It was the best moment of his short life so far._

_Somewhere in the background he was aware that the TARDIS was wheezing as the Doctor and Donna left this universe forever. He didn't care, though. He had Rose, and that was all that mattered._

_Rose suddenly pulled back and spun around as she too heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS leave her for the last time._

_"No!" Rose shouted as the blue box faded away._

_He took Rose's hand in his and she leaned on his shoulder._

_He felt envy well up in him. Even though the Doctor broke her heart and left her, she was still hurt by his departure. Would he ever be enough for Rose? He quickly pushed down that envy, telling himself in was to be expected. She had torn her way through the walls of the universe to get back to the Doctor, it was only logical she would be upset by his departure._

_He reminded himself that is was _his_ lips she had crushed her own against._

She could still have regrets. Maybe she even regretted the kiss._ Dark doubts whispered in his mind. He quickly pushed it back with the envy to be dealt with later._

_He would give Rose all the space she needed, until she was ready. Then he would show her that he was all the Doctor ever was. He was just as much the man she loved as the Doctor ever was. Really he was more, he was better, because he had the courage to tell Rose the truth when the Doctor had been a coward and run away, as always._

_This was not the end of the Doctor and Rose Tyler. This was just the beginning, and it was going to be brilliant. It had to be._

* * *

The Doctor gaped at his surroundings as the golden light faded.

He was standing in the middle of London. A London with zeppelins in the sky. Pete's world.

Rose's world.

His duplicate's world.

The Doctor's mind began working at lightning speed. How did he get here? Was there a gap to the Void in this universe? Should he be concerned? At least his universe was safe.

But if he was erased from time and space itself, then how could he even exist in this world? Well, obviously he was here, but did that mean Rose would be here? If he never existed back in the other universe, then Rose never would have come here in the first place, because the Doctor would never have brought her here. But if he did not ever come here, then this world would be overrun with Cybermen right now, so maybe Rose was here, unaffected by the changes that were occurring in the other universe.

What was Rose doing right now? Where was she? Did she ever wonder about him still? What if she hated him? She probably did. He had left her on that damned beach a second time. He couldn't face her. He would get slapped.

Wait! He had regenerated! She wouldn't recognize him! Maybe he could see her after all!

Wait, what about his duplicate? He left them together forever. What if she was married now?

Was it stupid to be jealous of yourself? Not that he was, because he wasn't. Time Lords don't get jealous. Oh, who was he kidding, of course he was jealous!

He would just have to avoid them the rest of their lives. Blimey, no TARDIS, he had to live life in _order_ from now on. How would he ever get back? Would he want to?

Maybe he could be friends with Rose. Rose, Rose, Rose... There she was...

The Doctor's brain suddenly froze.

There was Rose, running by, just on the other side of the street. She was running as if her life depended on it.

Rose looked terrible. Her make up was streaked down her face. Her clothes were torn and dirty. Her hair was wild and unkempt.

The Doctor watched as Rose leaned against a building to catch her breath. She collapsed on the ground then, sobbed wracking her malnourished frame.

The Doctor felt a surge of anger course through his veins. Who had hurt Rose so terribly? He may have let her go, but he would still tear apart the universe to see her safe and smiling.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

The Doctor took a deep breath and crossed the street. He could do this. He _would_ do this. He had dreamed about it for so long, never believing it would be possible again. He was going to talk to Rose.

* * *

Rose was running. She had been doing a lot of that lately.

Sometimes Rose could almost imagine the Doctor was next to her, running next to her with his hand wrapped around hers. She wished he were here. He could take her away. He could save her from her nightmares.

But not today. Today she was just running in circles. There was no escape. The Doctor was never coming back. she was stuck on this planet with no way of hiding from _him. _From John Smith. The Doctor's duplicate. Her husband.

The Doctor had told her back on that bloody beach that he and John were the same man. He was wrong. Or maybe he was right, and Rose had simply failed. Failed to make John better, like she had once made the Doctor better.

Either way, John was not the man she loved, and Rose would have given anything to see the Doctor again.

Rose kept running. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would make it out of the city this time, before John's people found her and dragged her back to him. She was still dressed in the clothes she had run off in. They were torn from before she had escaped John, and dirty from winding her way through alleys. Maybe no one would realize it was her. Why would the Vitex heiress and wife of John Smith, the director of Torchwood, run in ruined clothes through the streets of London?

Except, everyone knew why. Yet no one had the courage to help her. Even her own parents refused to help her. They had tried, really, and Rose would never blame them for giving up. They had no choice. John had blackmailed them.

Rose shuddered at the memory of the day she accidentally found out. John had done his very best to hide it from her, but she had ways of finding things out. It was the first time Rose had truly hated him.

Rose had been able to contact some off world allies and have them hide her parents and Tony far away, on the other side of the galaxy. It hurt, knowing she would never see them again, especially Tony. She loved her brother so much. She did not dare follow them though. John would not bother to take the time or money to chase her family across the galaxy, but he could and he would use all resources at his disposal to hunt her down across the universe. So she stayed, to keep her family safe.

Rose paused and leaned against a building to catch her breath and dry her face. Wait, it was not raining. She was crying. Again.

"Why?" Rose whimpered through her tears. "Why did you leave me?" She knew why. John had told her, before things soured. But in times like these, Rose wished the Doctor would come back, just so she could hear it from him.

Rose sank down against the building, unable to carry on. She curled up in a ball and drew her knees up to her chest and sobbed.

Damn. John's men were probably coming by now, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. Life had lost its meaning 12 years ago, when the Doctor left her with John on Bad Wolf Bay.

* * *

**I'm going to start each chapter from now on with a flashback of Rose and John's time together before the Doctor's return. I've got a few ideas, but if you've got suggestions, I'd love to hear them.**

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm back! I'm so sorry about disappearing. Hopefully I'll update more often now. Just a warning, this chapter contains mentions of domestic abuse.**

**Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

**disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

_It took nearly a day to return to London. Nearly three hours waiting for the zeppelin. Then over thirty minutes to find their way to the place they were authorized to land and board it. Another two hours before the sleep deprived pilot realized they were going in the wrong direction. Three more hours to get to London. By then it was past 3am, so they decided to just spend the night on the zeppelin._

_The whole voyage wasn't that bad. Jackie chattered on about Tony over dinner and through the evening, until she finally gave in to the human need to sleep._

_Oh dear, he was human now. He would have to sleep for several hours every night. So much time of his life, wasted because humans required regular intervals of unconsciousness! (Of course he might not mind as long as Rose was lying next to him when he woke up . . . )_

_Rose stayed by his side. Her hand stayed nestled in his, just as it should be. She__ was silent the whole trip. She never once spoke, and barely looked at him. He hoped she was okay. She was quieter that he remembered, but it had been almost four years for her, she could have changed since Canary Warf._

_Eventually Rose fell asleep. Her head rested on his shoulder. He kept his eyes on her. She looked beautiful as she slept. He hoped he would get to watch her sleep more often from now on._

_At one point he thought he heard Rose murmur "Doctor." A tear slid down her cheek._

_He wiped the single tear from her face and wrapped his arms around her. Rose snuggled into his arms._

_He resolved make sure Rose knew that _he_ was the Doctor as much as the Time Lord . He would love Rose, and never abandon her. He would always be there for Rose. He would never let Rose suffer again._

* * *

The Doctor crossed the street and approached Rose. He wondered why she was running and crying on the streets of London. Why was she wearing a tank top? It wasn't warm enough out. And why were there bruises covering her arms?

The Doctor stood in front of Rose for a moment, and hesitated. What should he do? Should he hug her? Should he say hello? What should he do?

After a moment the Doctor settled for placing a hand gently on Rose's shoulder. She tensed at his touch for a moment, then relaxed.

"Are you alright?" asked the Doctor.

For a long moment Rose didn't respond, and the Doctor began to think she wouldn't. Just when the Doctor was about to walk away, Rose shifted and unwound from the tight ball she had curled into. She harshly wiped the tears from her eyes, then looked up to see who was speaking to her.

The Doctor studied his pink and yellow human's face carefully. She had a faded bruise on one cheek to match the ones on her arms. Who had done this to her?

The lack of recognition in her eyes hurt more than he expected. Her eyes captured his attention. Rose's eyes were old. They were eyes that had seen more pain and suffering than anyone her age should have. It pained the Doctor to think of what had occurred since he left her on that beach in Norway.

"Careful mate. I'm a married woman." despite the obvious turmoil she was in, she managed to speak with her usual cheek that the Doctor was so familiar with.

The Doctor was unable to suppress the smile that spread across his face. He had missed her voice so much. How had he man aged to go on living without her? Well never again. Even if she was married, he was never letting her go again. "I'll take my chances." he answered, loving that he could talk to her again.

Wait, she had said she was married. Was it to his duplicate? It must be, who else would it be?

"D'you have any idea who I am?" asked Rose. She frowned, like it was surprising he didn't recognize her. Why would that be? To her, he was just a kind stranger.

"Yes. You're Rose Tyler." the Doctor smiled. It was the first time he had spoken her name with this face. It felt wonderful. A weight lifted from his hearts that he hadn't even realized had been there.

For a fraction of a second, the Doctor thought he saw a faint glimmer of recognition as he spoke her name. It was gone almost instantly though, as if it had never been there at all. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part.

Something akin to panic suddenly filled Rose's eyes. Before the Doctor could fully comprehend what she was doing, Rose seized him, dragged him into a filthy alley, and pinned him to the wall.

"Are you mental?" Rose hissed. "It's Smith now, has been for a while. I don't know who you think you are, and where you've been, but if you value your life you will never call me Tyler again."

"I- I'm sorry." stuttered the Doctor, taken aback.

The Doctor's brain started to short circuit as he became aware of just how close their faces were. If he leaned in just a little further . . . Since when did he had so little control over himself?

The sound of footsteps snapped the Doctor back to reality, and Rose pulled away.

A rather burly tough man with a feral grin approached them, Rose in particular.

"Well, hello sweetheart." purred the man. "Why don't you ditch that boy, and I'll show you what a real man is like."

The Doctor instinctively reached into his jacket for his sonic. How dare anyone speak to Rose like that!

Rose just snorted and rolled her eyes. Why would she do that?

"I don't think my husband would take too kindly to that." Rose answered.

"Well, you don't seem to mind with that kid you've got pinned to the wall." countered the man.

Kid? He was 907! The Doctor frowned indignantly at the ignorance of this man.

"My husband is John Smith." deadpanned Rose.

Fear sparked in the man's eyes, and he began slowly backing away.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else. Honest mistake, really. Just forget it ever happened." stuttered the man. "Maybe not mention this to you husband?"

The man whirled around and ran away.

The Doctor frowned in confusion. It was nice to know Rose's potential attackers ran away when they knew who her husband was, but what had his duplicate done to inspire such fear?

"Right, now to deal with you." declared Rose.

* * *

Rose watched the thug run away. He was probably running off to report them. Damn. Better make this quick then, if the man who was stupid enough to show her kindness wanted to live to see a new day.

Rose turned her attention to the odd young man in front of her. He was very strange. He looked like a kid trying to dress up as his professor. He wore a tweed jacket, with a bright red bowtie. He had floppy brown hair and bright green eyes that revealed more intelligence that he was currently employing.

Maybe Ianto had recruited him. He obviously hadn't taught him much yet, or he just wasn't very bright. Maybe he was just one of those civilian idiots who was dumb enough to think he would be that one hero that would rescue Rose and whisk her off to another planet to live happily ever after. He didn't seem to know about John though, which was odd. Everyone knew about John.

John Smith and Rose Tyler, everyone knew their story. The fairy tale gone wrong. The Vitex Heiress and the alien hero. The lovers from another world, tearing universes apart to find each other. The happily ever after that was soured. The lies, the betrayals, the blackmail, the tears, the fights, the scandals, the threats, the beatings, the spies, the smuggling, the murders.

John and Rose Smith. The two most powerful people in the world, at odds. The director of Torchwood (pretty much director of the world, though people stubbornly pretended they still had freedom) and the leader of the New Preachers. The law and the rebels. Locked in a silent struggle that made the Cold War look like a childish squabble.

And somehow Rose had managed to collide with the only person on the face of the earth who was somehow blissfully unaware of the war.

But not for long, Rose would have to send this man to the preachers. Strip him of his ignorance, but maybe she could save him. The New Preachers had several off world allies. They did their best to smuggle innocent by-standers off world to safety. It wasn't ideal, but at least he would live. It was better than if John found him.

Rose shuddered as her mind supplied some too-detailed scenarios of what would happen to this man if John found him. The things this man would endure. All because he dared to show her kindness. Too many people had died for her.

"You're chilly. Here." the man said.

Rose felt the man drape something on her shoulders. It was his stupid tweed jacket. When had he moved?

"No! I can't accept this!" protested Rose. If John found it he'd run DNA scans and hunt this man down.

"No, really, it's fine. You need it more than I do." insisted the man. To prove his point he gestured to her bare arms, uncovered by her tank top.

Rose was about to protest, but his fingers grazed her arm lightly. They brief contact sent goosebumps up her arms. What was it about this man that captured her attention?

Well, she would just have to burn the jacket as soon as he was out of sight.

"Fine." relented Rose.

The man grinned brightly. Rose wasn't sure what it was about his smile, but she found herself grinning back. She hoped smuggling him off world would go smoothly. She wanted this man to get the chance to smile like that again. It would almost be worth the bruises John would no doubt add to her collection.

Rose leaned closer, and whispered in his ear.

"There's a chip shop owned by Vitex a few blocks away. There's a waiter there named Ianto Jones. Tell him you've heard they serve the best chips in London, and you want some. He'll say they're out. Ask again. Do exactly as he tells you. Got it?"

Rose pulled away. It was up to the Preachers now. She wished she could do more, but she if she did, John would find the Preachers. She'd already lost Jake and Lisa by being careless. She was never allowing it to happen again.

The man stuttered a bit, like he wasn't sure how to respond.

Rose didn't stick around. If John's men did find him, she didn't want to know.

* * *

**Please review! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's the next chapter at long last! Thanks for all the review, follows, and favorites!**

**Enjoy!**

**disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

_It had been a day since they arrived back in London._

_Yesterday they spent the day at the Tyler mansion, recovering from the recent events. He met Rose's little brother, Tony Tyler. Tony Tyler was a sweet little boy who hero-worshiped his big sister. Rose doted on the little boy that had her eyes._

_ Rose would make a good mother. Not yet, but someday._

_In his mind's eye he could see it, children with her eyes and his hair, running around, playing while he and Rose watched them. Then, once the new TARDIS was finished growing, he would show them the stars, take them to places most people only dreamed of. It was going to be brilliant._

_ But not yet._

_ First, he had to set up all sorts of boring legal stuff that people who lived in order had to have._

_ Rose's fingers were laced with his as they followed Pete Tyler down the streets of London to an office building. It was just a plain office building, with plain people who sat in plain chairs and watched numbers roll by on plain screens._

_ Pete summoned the lift, and the three of them stepped in._

_ Up, up, up they rose._

_ They exited in another office. It was also full of boring people doing boring work, but something about the place was eerie and set him on edge._

_ People looked up as they walked by and smiled pleasantly._

_"Rose! I thought you weren't comin' back. Where's Mickey?" asked a familiar voice._

_ He turned to the voice just in time to see Jake embrace Rose._

_ "Mickey stayed back in the other universe . . ." Rose continued to talk to Jake, but her voice faded into the background._

_ He looked more closely and realized where they were. The glass no longer had the logo, the desks were arranged differently, and the ghost shift equipment was gone. It was still obviously the same room though._

_ And there, right in front of him, was that bloody wall. That was the wall he leaned against and had prayed to nobody that he could sink through that wall into the other universe. That was where his newly healed hearts had been torn out of his chest. At least, he remembered when the Doctor had gone through all that._

_ But it was fine now. He was here, in Pete's World, with Rose._

_ "Doctor? Are you okay?" asked Rose._

_ He shut down his painful memories, and turned to Rose._

_ "I'm always alright." he lied with a smile._

_ Rose glared at him skeptically. She let it slide though, and turned back to Pete._

_ Pete had a bunch of boring papers spread out on a desk in front of them._

_ "We need a name for your legal papers. This universe knows about aliens and all, but you can't put 'The Doctor' on a passport or bank account." explained Pete._

_He thought for a moment. He would have to invent one. Only Rose would get to know his Gallifreyan name._

_ "John Smith." That made the most sense. He went by that name lots of times when "The Doctor" would not suffice. Well, the Doctor had._

_ No, he was the Doctor. Rose's Doctor._

_ "Are you sure?" asked Pete._

_ "Yes." he answered. John Smith was as good a name as any. It may as well be his._

_ They spent too long setting up bank accounts and stuff._

_ Finally, after what felt like hours (according to the clock it had been two hours and seven minutes) they were finished._

_ As they walked out, he glared one last time at that wall. He gripped Rose's hand tighter._

_ He was never letting Rose go again._

* * *

Rose leaned forward, and the Doctor's brain shut down. The only thought left, _Rassilion, she was going to kiss him!_ He would have liked that to be the case. It was really very ridiculous how much he hoped it would be the case. He was 907! He was a Time Lord! The last of the Time Lords! He should be able to control himself better than this.

Instead, he was holding his breath as old dreams and fantasies resurfaced. Dreams his ninth self had been ashamed of. Fantasies his tenth self thought she knew. Pain this self never allowed himself to feel.

It didn't matter though. Instead her lips found his ear, and she whispered some instructions before pulling away. Then she left him standing alone in that alley.

The Doctor watched Rose walk away. He should let her go. She was married. She had a life of he own. A life he left her to live. He should leave and figure out what he was going to do without a TARDIS now. Yes. That was a good plan. A plan he should follow through. Never mind he was rubbish at following plans . . .

No! He had just found her again! He couldn't just walk away. It had taken all his willpower to leave her with his metacrisis. He didn't have the strength to leave again.

The Doctor ran out in the street, only to find Rose was already gone. What was he supposed to do now? He had to find her again, there was no question about that. But how? She was just one human, and London was a huge city.

Rose's words came back to him. _"There's a chip shop owned by Vitex a few blocks away. There's a waiter there named Ianto Jones. Tell him you've heard they serve the best chips in London, and you want some. He'll say they're out. Ask again. Do exactly as he tells you. Got it?"_

Well, it was a place to start. The Doctor had no plans to follow the instructions of strangers. He hoped this Ianto Jones (where had he heard that name before?) could give him some answers about what was up with Rose.

* * *

The Vitex-owned London chip shop was across the street from Canary Wharf, Torchwood's former headquarters. It was started by Pete Tyler for Rose Tyler after the second time she mysteriously wound up in Norway. The Vitex heiress had a notorious affinity to chips, and it was widely agreed upon that Pete opened the shop so his daughter would always have her chips within walking distance while at work. Along with chips the place sold the original Vitex products that made Pete Tyler a millionaire.

In happier times it had been affectionately nicknamed the Torchwood Cafe. When Canary Wharf had been Torchwood HQ, the place seemed to be crawling with Torchwood employees at all hours. Stories were still told of alien ambassadors that always made a point of visiting while on diplomatic trips to earth. That was still the name it went by.

But that was years ago. Back in the good old days, when Pete Tyler was director, and Torchwood still gave a damn about the people. Before John Smith reformed the institute, and repopulated it with thugs and bastards.

Now the place was run down and going out of business. The few who still dined there were either idiots or shady characters. Ianto Jones was the latter.

Ianto was a former Torchwood employee. He was one of the first to leave Torchwood after John Smith took over. Rumors floated about that he was in league with the revived rebel group called the Preachers, but that's all they were. Rumors.

As for as anyone knew, Ianto was just a waiter now. He was a quiet, somber man, but that was to be expected. He had spent the past three years a widower after being married for ten. His wife, Lisa, had vanished under mysterious circumstances, which only fueled the rumors that he was allied with rebels.

Ianto ignored the rumors. Only he knew the truth of his allegiances. The rumors had gotten him arrested and interrogated twice by John Smith's Torchwood, and both times he miraculously got to return to his mundane life.

Ianto stared despondently at his ring finger as he pours tea for a customer. Not a day had gone by in three years that he didn't recall his deceased wife.

Ianto had briefly considered leaving the Preachers after Lisa's death. He had served them loyally for over a decade. He could leave earth. Escape, like all those others he helped smuggle away. He could start a new life on a new planet, away from this hell earth had become.

He stayed though. It was what Lisa would have wanted. She had always been so dedicated to the Preachers. She hated John Smith, with his twisted ways. So he stayed, to honor her.

Sometimes Ianto wondered if things would have been different if he had turned his back on it all. If he had walked away from the Preachers when they first came calling. Lisa would still be alive. Maybe they would have had children.

Ianto felt hatred well up within him. John Smith had ruined everything. If only the Dimension Cannon had never worked all those years ago, the John Smith would never have arrived in this universe.

Ianto felt resentment bubble to the surface. Resentment for Rose Tyler. He quickly shoved it away. Ianto felt deep pity for the wife of John Smith, but if she hadn't obsessed over returning to the other universe, John Smith would never have come.

Ianto knew he had no right to blame Rose. He would have dome the same if he had been forced apart from Lisa.

If Ianto blamed anyone, it was the Doctor. The hero from another universe. It was one of the Doctor's battles that first trapped Rose here. Rose loved the Doctor, that's why she blasted her way across universes. The Doctor was the one who created John Smith, by pouring his excess regenerating energy into a severed limb just so he could continue to wear the same face. And it was the Doctor who decided to dump John Smith in this universe. If he ever got the chance, Ianto would make the Doctor clean up the mess he made.

Ianto mechanically delivered the tea and moved on to the next table, where a new customer was seated. He pulled himself out of his thoughts so he could take the new arrival's order, and plastered a smile to his face.

Funny, he had never seen this man in his life. The man wore braces and a red bowtie. All he needed to complete his look was a tweed jacket.

"Welcome to Torchwood Cafe. Can I take your order?" asked Ianto.

The man's attention snapped to Ianto. Beneath the mop of floppy brown hair was a pair of strange green eyes.

"Yes. I've heard you have the best chips in London. I'd like to try them."

Ianto's spirits sank. Not another one. It wasn't fair that people were being uproot from their homes to be shipped off to other planets, just because a jealousy, paranoid husband had the power to have men arrested and executed for merely daring to be kind to his wife.

Technically the Preachers were offering a choice, stay and risk arrest and execution, or leave everything you've ever know and live. In the end, it wasn't really much of a choice at all.

Ianto followed the code the Preachers had given him.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid we're out of chips right now." _Please believe me. Don't ask again._

"Are you sure? I really was looking forward to the best chips in the city."

"I'm sorry." _Did you have family? You won't even get to say goodbye. _"Let me take you to the manager."

The man hesitated for a moment, then followed as Ianto led him away.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**

**Please review! :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here's another chapter! Thank you so much for all the reviews, follows, and favorites.**

**Just a warning, there's mentions of non-con in this chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

**disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

_It had been a year now, since the Doctor left them in Norway. It took a couple months for Rose to recover from the Doctor's departure, but after that everything had been perfect. Everyone knew their story now. Mysterious disappearance of the Vitex Heiress, and then her sudden reappearance in Norway with a handsome stranger. Everyone had their own theories about what exactly had happened. Everyone knew what happened next. Their whirlwind romance straight out of a fairy tale._

_John Smith had a hand on each of Rose's shoulders. He wasn't sure when he stopped being the Doctor and started being John. If he had to guess, he would say it started when he began working at Torchwood. Everyone there called him John. Even Rose and Pete called him that while at work. But he didn't mind. Rose still called him the Doctor when they were alone. Sometimes._

_Today was John's "birthday." If you could call it that._

_More importantly, today marked one year since the Doctor left them at Bad Wolf Bay. Rose must have been keeping track, because she had become quieter and more reserved the past few days. She hadn't checked their growing TARDIS is almost a week. She put on a brave face at work, but John could tell it was eating her away on the inside._

_John loved Rose. He hated seeing her like this. All he wanted was for her to smile, and for that smile to never leave her face. After seeing Rose so sad the past few days, he finally realized he wanted to always be there for her, to hold her hand and make her smile. It had taken him by surprise, but he had decided to take a leap of faith._

_So now Rose wasn't the only one whose emotions were eating her from the inside out. John felt his soul being viciously tormented by anxiety. His single human heart hammered painfully against his ribs. He wondered if this was normal, or a side effect of his unique origins._

"_Doctor, where are we going? I can't see anything." Rose complained._

_John smiled as he gently guided Rose. He was rather proud of himself. He had guided her with steady hands so far. His hands had been shaking earlier when he was tying the blindfold over her eyes. He also had trouble focusing as her blonde hair cascaded through his fingers._

"_I can't tell you, Rose! It's a surprise!" exclaimed John. "I promise I won't let you run into a wall or anything."_

"_You better. Mum would slap you if you did."_

"_She would never have to know."_

"_She'd find out one way or another."_

_John rolled his eyes. His least favorite part about living in this world was the fact that he was a celebrity. It had been inevitable. He was the handsome stranger who appeared from nowhere, who fell in love with the Vitex heiress, who also appeared from nowhere. After nine hundred years of anonymously (more or less) running around through time and space, it was disconcerting to always be on the run from at least a dozen reporters. If he sneezed, the whole world knew within an hour. If he held Rose's hand in public, the whole solar system knew. If he kissed Rose, the whole galaxy knew. He could even recall on rather humiliating instance where he accidentally took a bite of a pear and made the headlines._

"_Not tonight." whispered John. He had gone on Twitter earlier that evening and suggested that he was taking Rose to Paris. Hopefully that would keep the reporters away for a few hours._

_John let go of Rose's shoulders and reached up to remove the blindfold. He couldn't help fingering her soft blonde locks before untying it._

_John heard Rose's sharp intake of breath._

_They stood on the roof of the Tyler mansion. Before them was a simple candlelit table with a meal prepared for the two of them._

"_Surprise." John whispered. He wrapped his arms around her and took a moment to inhale her scent. He loved this woman. How had he fallen for her? He got on perfectly fine for nine hundred years without Rose (at least the Doctor had, but that didn't really matter now), and now he couldn't imagine life without her._

_In response, Rose twist around in John's embrace and kissed him. "Thank you." she whispered between kisses._

_Eventually they pulled apart. John guided Rose to the table. He pulled out Rose's chair for her, proud how well he concealed the fact that he used the chair to keep his hands from shaking._

_John took a moment to just admire Rose. She was bathed in the light of the candlelight. She had a far off look in her eyes as she gazed at the London skyline. She was beautiful._

_How was he going to do this? His single human heart thudded painfully in his chest. Were all human hearts this weak?_

_John took one last deep breath, then made up his mind. He cleared his throat._

"_Rose . . ?"_

_Rose turned to fix her eyes on him._

"_Before we start, there's something I, need to ask, you . . ." Wonderful. He was off to a rubbish start so far._

"_And? What is it?" asked Rose._

_Now or never. John got down on one knee. He too a deep breath. He could do this. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the ring that had spent the past week in there._

"_Rose Tyler." John began. "I've loved you since I first set my eyes on you. I can't imagine life without you, and I hope I'll never know what it's like. Rose Tyler, will you marry me?"_

_For a fraction of a second, John heard nothing, and he was afraid to look at Rose. Terror gripped him. What had he done wrong?_

_Then, just barely a whisper. "Yes."_

_John looked up at Rose._

"_Yes." Rose repeated._

_John stood and embraced Rose. Their lips found one another's. They pulled back for a second and just looked at each other. John took Rose's hand in his and slid the ring on her finger. They both took a second to admire the ring on Rose's hand, then they returned to kissing. It was perfect._

_John felt his heart soar as he kissed Rose. He had belonged to Rose since the day he met her, and now, at long last, she belonged to him._

* * *

Rose glared at John defiantly as his henchmen pushed her to her knees in front of him. John glared back at her. Rose had only made it a few blocks before John's men had found her, and dragged her back to the Tyler mansion.

"Leave us." John commanded his henchmen.

The henchmen didn't move. Either they didn't hear him or they were thicker than Rose had first thought.

"Now!" snarled John.

Like good little soldiers, the henchmen obediently scrambled away. They shut the door behind then.

John waited for them to leave, then turned to Rose. The look on his face made Rose want to crawl away and hide. She remembered the Doctor wearing that look when he was in full Oncoming Storm mode. She had always hated that look. If by some miracle the Doctor came back, Rose doubted she could stand to stay with him. Not while the Doctor wore the same face as John.

Maybe today, if she was lucky, she would walk away with just a few more bruises. That wouldn't be so bad. She could barricade herself in her old bathroom. It pretty much the only place in the mansion free of cameras. John would assume she was sulking. She could work on her escape plan in (relative) peace.

"My sources say you were in an alley with a handsome young man." sneered John. He stepped toward Rose, a predatory grin on his face. "Need I remind you, you are married to me."

Rose cringed as John's lips crushed hers. His hands found their way up her shirt. After a moment, John roughly picked up Rose and dragged them back to their bedroom.

She was unlucky today.

* * *

_Ianto Jones._ The Doctor was sure he had heard the name somewhere before. But where? Ianto seemed familiar, too. He was a man in his early forties who was hiding his grief and pain behind a quiet, professional demeanor. How did a man like that wind up working at a place like this? The people here were different. The shadow of defeat, that hung over everyone the Doctor had encountered so far, was here too. but there was an air of defiance here that the Doctor had yet to see anywhere else. Well, he hadn't been here very long (not even twelve hours!), so there were still plenty of places the Doctor had yet to see.

How did Ianto know Rose?

Ianto smiled politely at the Doctor as he asked for the Doctor's order. He was every inch the man he appeared to be. How could a waiter in a run down cafe be tangled up in whatever it was that Rose was involved in?

Ianto played the part so well that the Doctor had doubts for a moment. Maybe he was at the wrong place. Vitex was a huge company. They could very well have more than one place.

But then the Doctor continued to follow Rose's instructions, and Ianto took him to see the manager. Ianto was definitely the man Rose wanted the Doctor to find. Did Ianto know what was going on with Rose?

The Doctor followed Ianto down the hall to the manager's office. Torchwood Cafe had been a nice place once. The Doctor could imagine very clearly Rose and her friends all dressed up in posh suits, walking in and ordering lunch, laughing about some alien encounter. But the place was crumbling around them now. The wall paper was peeling. Framed newspaper articles that were yellow with age were collecting dust.

The Doctor scanned the headlines and accompanying photos as Ianto guided down the hall. JACKY TYLER BACK FROM THE DEAD? Beneath the letters was a picture of Jacky Tyler. The memory of her slapping his ninth self and kissing his tenth self still make the Doctor shudder. MYSTERY GIRL ROSE TYLER NAMED VITEX HEIRESS. A picture of Rose, wearing a grin that didn't quite reach her eyes. WHO IS ROSE'S NEW MYSTERY MAN? Rose and his metacrisis on a picnic. Had his hair always been that wild? His hearts twisted painfully when he saw the happiness and love in the couple's eyes. ROSE TYLER AND JOHN SMITH ENGAGED! Rose and the metacrisis grinning as they posed for the camera. WEDDING OF THE CENTURY! The metacrisis in a tuxedo, his hair tamed a little, with Rose in a wedding dress. They were kissing. JOHN SMITH TO SUCCEED PETE TYLER AS TORCHWOOD DIRECTOR. Pete Tyler and the metacrisis shaking hands. There were a few more articles after that, announcing "John Smith's" reforms of Torchwood. No more pictures.

They reached the door at the end of the hall. A dull brass plate declared it the manager's office.

Ianto pushed the door open and gestured for the Doctor to enter. _Do exactly as he tells you. _Rose's words echoed in his mind. The Doctor entered the office.

Ianto followed behind him. Ianto closed the door and locked it.

Not that the Doctor noticed. He was too busy gaping at the manager.

From behind the mountain of paperwork, the manager looked up to see who was invaded the office.

The manager was Martha Jones.

* * *

**Please Review! :)**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm back! I'd say I'm sorry, but that seems insufficient after over a month. Forgive me? This chapter just refused to be written. Thanks for all the feedback, and thanks for sticking with me so far.**

**Enjoy!**

**disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

_**Chapter Five**_

_They got married four months after the night on the roof of the Tyler Mansion. John and Rose would have gotten married the next week, but Jackie would have had a fit. So they waited patiently, and four months later they were married on a sunny afternoon in the front lawn of the Tyler Mansion. The press was calling it the wedding of the century. John couldn't help but agree, but then, Jackie Tyler had planned it._

_After the wedding, Rose and John had gone off on a month long honeymoon. For an entire month they were hidden away on a private island. The press couldn't find them. John suspected Torchwood had something to do with that. It was a wonderful, camera-free, carefree month._

_They were back in London now. They both worked for Torchwood. They both had long, unpredictable hours. Sometimes they didn't see each other for a few days at a time. Life would never be perfect, but John wasn't complaining. He still got to work with aliens, and he was _married_ to _Rose Tyler_._

_John Smith whistled to himself as he entered the office. He was surprised by how much he liked working for Torchwood. He had expected it to be boring, but it really wasn't any different from the days of the Doctor and the TARDIS. Only now he had more people to work with._

_John started out as a field agent, and quickly rose through the ranks. His knowledge of aliens resulted in him often being called on in most of the other departments as well. As a result, John was swiftly promoted. After just a year and a half after first entering this universe, John was second in command of the Torchwood Institute._

"_Rose!" John called out. "Rose! I'm back! Rose?"_

_Where was Rose? John hadn't seen her since lunch. She was probably out on a mission. Would she be home tonight for dinner?_

_Rose was Torhcwood's top field agent. She never cared for the authority that came with seniority, but she was still regarded with the utmost respect. She even had her own team of field agents, including Jake Simmonds, and this world's version of Martha Jones. Between being Torchwood's top field agent, and living with the first and second in command, she could more or less pick and choose missions as she pleased. She made it home for dinner most nights, but there were still times when a particularly difficult or dangerous mission would keep her from coming home for days at a time._

_John hated that Rose still went on missions. Every time she left on a Weevil chase, or to hunt down a Sontaran, John wondered if she would even come back. There were so many ways she could die. Or maybe she would just decide to not come back._

_John heard his office door swing open. He looked up to see who the intruder was._

"_Mr. Smith-" the intruder began._

"_Leticia Jones!" John greeted brightly. Martha's sister had been a godsend since the day she started working at Torchwood. She taught John how to comprehend all the paperwork that came with his job. After a while he had just given in and named Leticia his PA. She was doing most of his paperwork by then anyway. It made his job a hell of a lot easier._

"_Mr. Smith, it's Rose. She and Martha were out on a Weevil chase. They called Jake for backup, and then disappeared." Leticia announced._

_John's brain froze for a second, then jumped to super speed (which was sadly still slower than the Time Lord Doctor's normal speed). Rose had disappeared? What did that mean? Why did she still insist on going on field missions? Oh, Leticia was Martha's sister, he should probably worry for Martha too. He should worry for Martha anyway, she traveled with him in the TARDIS . . . Well, with the Doctor anyway . . . Well, it was a parallel version of her . . . Rose! He had to find her!_

"_What do you mean 'disappeared?' "_

"_They were in the sewers and experienced some complications. They called in Jake for backup. Once he reached them, their comms went offline. We didn't hear any sign of a struggle, so we believe it was voluntary."_

"_I'm going after them." John headed for the door. "Where were they last seen?"_

"_The sewers under Henrick's."_

"_Send a search party out as well. And let Pete know what's happened."_

_John was out of the office before he could hear Leticia's reply._

_Twenty flights of stairs, a sea of reporters, two blocks, and a taxi later, John was standing in front of Henrick's. Despite being in this universe for over a year, it was still strange to see this place when he clearly remembered blowing it up (at least the Doctor had)._

_John found the manhole almost immediately. It was left open, a gaping hole in the middle of the sidewalk. Someone had left a traffic cone on the cover to warn pedestrians of the danger._

_John scrambled down the ladder. Rose was the only thought on his mind._

"_Rose, we need to get you back." Martha's voice drifted through the tunnels. "You're going to have to tell John sooner or later anyway. For god's sake, you're married now."_

"_Martha's right, Rose." Jake's voice._

_Rose moaned, either in frustration or pain. "Well not today. Now do it already!"_

_John followed the voices, alarm quickly taking over his brain._

"_Rose, we'll get you to the hospital. We'll wipe their records after, but this can't be the solution every time you're too injured to cover it." argued Jake._

"_No. John would never let me out on a mission again if I came home injured. Just shoot me already."_

_A shot rang out. Then a second one._

"_Did it work?" asked Martha._

"_Yeah. She's dead." answered Jake._

_John took off blindly down the tunnels, with only one thought flashing through his mind in big red letters._

_ROSE!_

_What the hell had just happened? Why did Rose want to be shot? Was she really in so much pain she chose death over recovery? And what was she not telling him? Didn't she trust him? And why did Martha and Jake know?_

"_Rose!" John called out. He had to find her!_

"_John?" It was Martha. "John! Oh god, Jake. John's here."_

"_We kept telling Rose. She shouldn't have put it off so long. No way to hide it this time." Jake said. "We're here John!"_

_John followed the voiced of Rose's team. He ran through the dark maze, until suddenly, he could see light coming from around the corner. He turned the corner, and froze at the scene before him._

_Rose was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Judging by the bleeding wounds on Rose's neck and chest, the blood was most likely hers. Her clothes were torn and soaked in blood. There was a tear at the gash in her neck, and two holes from the bullets she had taken to her chest. Oh god, she had been shot. The worst part was the gold mist she was shrouded in. It swirled in lazy circles over her skin. John had heard of aliens like this. Gaseous life forms that possessed those with solid bodies. Not his Rose. Why her? He watched as the mist swirled over her skin. He saw Rose's bleeding wounds slowly close up and heal. It was a small blessing, but it was a comfort to know this alien had healed Rose's wounds, even if it was for the alien's benefit. He could get her back to Torchwood and figure out how to remove the alien. He just might let it live since it had healed Rose's otherwise fatal wounds._

_Martha and Jake stood off to the side, talking. Their nonchalance confused and enraged John. Couldn't they see Rose had been fatally wounded? (Of course they did. They shot her.) Couldn't they see that an alien was trying to possess her?_

"_Martha! Jake!" John advanced. He could feel the rage of the Oncoming Storm welling up within him. "What do you think you're doing? You shot Rose and now you're having a nice chat? Did you even notice she's being possessed by an alien? Or is that another of Torchwood's bloody secrets? Did it offer its services, or did you enslave it? If Rose dies, then God help you, because I will-"_

"_Doctor!"_

_John fell silent mid-rant._

"_Rose?" John whirled around, rage rapidly fading, to see Rose, swaying on her feet. She was clearly disoriented, but at least she was standing, and very much alive._

_Rose looked at John. "Doctor? No, wait . . . John? John . . . Smith? John Smith, yeah? My Doctor." Rose stumbled forward and fell into John's arms._

"_Rose? Rose? Are you alright? What happened?" John babbled. Oh Rose, she had to be alright. He doubted he could survive losing her._

_Rose snuggled into John's embrace. She hid her face, burying her face in John's jacket. All he could see was her blonde silky hair. Her next words were muffled._

_John understood Rose well enough, though. Rose said only two words, but they made John's blood run cold._

"_Bad Wolf."_

* * *

Martha Jones sat in her office staring absently at her paperwork. God, she hated the paperwork. She missed being a field agent for Torchwood. Back when she was a worked at Royal Hope as a doctor, the paperwork had been the bane of her existence. Being recruited to Torchwood had been a saving grace in many ways. She had been recruited shortly after John Smith's mysterious appearance. It had been a great job. The best one ever. She loved the excitement of meeting aliens, and learning about different forms of life. She even enjoyed the occasional running for her life. Actually, the running was quite often, and she probably enjoyed the near-death encounters far more than a sane person should.

Now she was stuck in a dingy little office, doing bloody paperwork again. Martha hated it, but it was necessary for the sake of the Preachers and Rose. Officially Martha was the manager of Torchwood Cafe. (Torchwood Cafe. Ha! As if they would serve any of the bastards that worked for Torchwood now.) It was just a cover, but maintaining appearances was important these days. "All the world's a stage." Shakespeare once wrote (what must he have been as a person? Martha imagined he was brilliant), but it was literal now. Every move in public had to be carefully planned.

Martha never expected that this is where life would lead her. John Smith had been so kind to her and her entire family in the beginning. Then he tore her family apart. Her parents were dead. They were among the first to see through his lies. Her sister Tish was one of John's most devoted followers. Her brother Leo escaped off-planet with his girlfriend and daughter. Martha doubted she would ever see her brother again. She hoped that in some other universe, somewhere out there, that there was another version of her running around. Still chasing around aliens and loving life, carefree and happy.

Martha heard the door creak as it swung open. She looked up, not sure who it would be. Maybe it would be one of John Smith's officials, come for a routine inspection. Maybe it would be Ianto with another unfortunate soul to ship off-planet. Or maybe it would be Rose with another location to search, as part of the Preachers' other, secret project. Martha couldn't decide which she would dread the most.

Ianto walked in with a young man in tow.

_Not another one. _Martha felt disappointment settle in her heart. Another poor soul, torn from his family. He had floppy brown hair, bright green eyes, and a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He must have been from South America, or maybe somewhere in Asia. Definitely not anywhere in Europe. His eyes told of unmeasured sorrow, but they lacked the shadow of defeat that haunted the eyes of those who lived directly in the shadow of John Smith's reign of terror.

"Ooh, now that is just brilliant! Martha Jones! Every universe needs a Martha Jones! Hello Martha!" the young man babbled.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" asked Martha.

"Ooh, yes, sorry. Parallel universe, parallel Martha. This you hasn't met me." rambled the man. "Wait! That's it! Jones! No! It can't be. I met my Martha's family. You're definitely not a couple, neither of you look happy to see each other. But I'm positive I've seen you before, Ianto Jones. But where . . ?"

The young man stepped toward Ianto and stared him right in the eye, Martha stole a glance at Ianto. He was staring at the young man. He was just as lost as Martha was. Who the hell was this man Rose had sent to be "deported?"

"Never mind! I'll figure it out eventually." the man whirled around to face Martha. "Hello Martha! I'm the Doctor!"

Martha's brain froze. She stared at the young man. There was no way this could be the Doctor. This had to be John Smith's latest attempt to infiltrate their ranks. There was no way this man could possibly be the Doctor.

Across the room, Ianto tensed. His opinion of the Doctor had never been positive. To Ianto, the Doctor was the hero that swept Rose Tyler off her feet, only to abandon her in this universe with the man everyone knew today as John Smith. Lisa's death at the hands of John's men had only increased Ianto's bitterness.

Martha kept her expression neutral, doing her best to conceal her initial surprise. She kept her focus on the would-be Doctor as she repeated her question.

"The Doctor? Rose's Doctor?" asked Martha.

Martha did her best to remain calm. She had to keep the "Doctor's" focus on her. That way he wouldn't notice Ianto reach for the framed photo of the Tyler family. He wouldn't see Ianto open the hidden cupboard behind the photo. And he wouldn't see Ianto remove the gun from the cupboard and aim it as his heart.

"Rose's Doctor?" He paused, as if deep in thought, then smiled. "Yeah. That's me! _Rose's_ Doctor. Where is she? She wouldn't let me talk to her before."

Martha rose from her chair. She walked around her desk, so she was standing right in front of the "Doctor."

"I don't know who put you up to this, _Doctor,_ but for your sake I hope you aren't working for John Smith. Get in the chair." Martha whipped out the miniature alien gun she kept hidden in her pocket. Back when she had been a field agent for Torchwood, the alien gun had been her weapon of choice when dealing with hostile aliens.

"But it's me. I'm the Doctor! Check. I've got two hearts!" insisted the false Time Lord.

"Nice try, mate. The Time Lords aren't the only race with two hearts." Martha countered. "Now get in the chair."

Ianto, gun still raised, joined Martha at her side.

The supposed Time Lord reached up to his chest. He backed slowly toward the chair, babbling the whole time.

"Really. What is it with humans and guns? It's like you were born with them in your hands. Where's my sonic? Oh, right. In my jacket pocket, and I gave my jacket to Rose. Please! Just let me talk to Rose. I can prove I've the Doctor, I just need to talk to her. And the Preachers. What do you lot have against this John Smith? Why are you still pointing guns at me? I can help, just put the guns down. Oof!"

The would-be Time Lord fell back hard into Martha's chair behind her desk.

"Ianto, there's some rope in my desk. Could you . . .?"

Ianto was already moving. Keeping his gun trained on it's target, he walked to the desk. He turned to Martha, gesturing vaguely at the half dozen draws.

"Second from the bottom on the right." Martha answered.

Ianto nodded and opened the draw Martha gestured to. He reached in and removed the several strips of nylon cord Martha kept stashed there, for occasions such as this. This wouldn't be the first time John Smith had attempted to infiltrate the Preachers. This wouldn't even be the first time he had used the strategy of sending someone who claimed to be the Doctor. Regeneration made identifying the Time Lord a tricky task.

Ianto moved toward the man currently occupying Martha's chair. The man in the chair started to thrash about. "No! Please! Listen!"

"Don't struggle." commanded Ianto. "It will only make this harder for you."

Ianto tied the infiltrator to the chair's arms and legs. Their prisoner continued to verbally protest, but he stopped struggling physically.

Martha didn't lower her gun until Ianto had all the ropes secured. Once Ianto finished, Martha lowered her gun and slipped it back in her hidden pocket.

"Thanks, Ianto. Better go back out to the shop, before you're missed." Martha followed Ianto to the door of her office.

Ianto's hand rested on the door knob, the paused. Ianto turned to Martha. His expression was serious, but his eyes were full of sorrow.

"You'll tell me if it's really him, won't you?" asked Ianto.

Martha felt compassion well up for the Welshman. Three years later and he still had yet to find closure over his wife's death. Martha hoped that the man tied up in her office chair really was the Doctor. Maybe the Doctor would be able to help find the closure Ianto needed.

"You'll be the first to know. I promise." Martha assured her friend.

Satisfied with Martha's answer, Ianto unlocked the door and left the office.

Martha turned to face the man tied to her chair.

"Right. We'll have to wait for Rose to prove whether or not you're telling the truth about who you are. If you really are the Doctor, you need to be aware of the current situation. What's going to happen now is I'm going to tell you what has happened since the last time the Doctor was in this universe. Then we'll get Rose to tell us whether you're the Doctor or not. If you're telling the truth, I don't know what will happen to you. I guess it will be up to Rose. But if you're lying, and you're working for John Smith, the Preachers will destroy every record of you're existence. You will cease to exist, and we will kill you."

The prisoner began to protest.

"Be quiet, or I'll have to gag you." commanded Martha.

The prisoner fell silent.

"Thank you. Now, it's been twelve years since the Doctor left Rose with John Smith – that's his duplicate's name – on Darlig Ulv Straden . . ."

* * *

Rose was hiding out in the bathroom adjacent to an empty bedroom in the mansion. It wasn't just any bedroom. It was the one Rose called her own back in the days when she was working with Torchwood on the Dimension Cannon. It was now the only room in the mansion camera-free that Rose could access.

Rose checked the time on the computer screen. She didn't want to stay too long. John's jealousy-fueled paranoia increased when he woke in an empty bed. The last thing Rose wanted was an increase in surveillance on her.

Rose yawned. She was exhausted. She and John rarely had sex anymore. They had stopped calling it making love years ago. When they did have sex, they didn't stop until John had had enough.

These days, John slept like the dead after sex. This was the safest time for Rose to slip away. She was working on an escape plan (she gave up hoping the Doctor would save her years ago). Even the Preachers didn't know. Only Martha and Ianto knew of the full extent of Rose's plan. Jake and Lisa had known too, but they were dead now.

Rose checked the time. She had been gone for about an hour and a half. She still had a few hours left.

Good. _Molto bene,_ as the Doctor would have said. Rose quickly dismissed that train of thought. It wouldn't lead to anywhere good.

Rose noticed the message icon flashing on her screen. When had that started blinking?

Rose clicked on the icon. A message from Martha appeared. It was short and simple.

_We're got another TLD. Get here as soon as possible. -M_

Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she let it out. Again. In. Out.

"TLD." Time Lord Doctor.

The first couple times this had happened, Rose had hoped. She truly thought that maybe, against all odds, the Doctor had come back to save her.

Now, Rose's hope was dead and gone. She thought John had given up using it as a cover story to try to infiltrate the Preachers, yet here he was. He had sent yet another fake Doctor her way.

Rose considered getting up and going right then and there. She had time.

Rose didn't dare leave her computer though. Not while it was running her program. It was just too risky. The fake Time Lord would just have to wait until tomorrow, until Rose could sneak away while John was at work.

Rose fought off the haze of sleep as she waited for her program to finish. It was going to be a long wait. Over an hour, at least.

Words flowed across the screen.

_Sca__nning for unregistered alien tech . . ._

* * *

**Please Review! :)**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: At long last, another chapter! Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites.**

**Enjoy!**

**disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"_So when would I have found out? In five years? Ten? _On my deathbed?"_ John asked angrily. "But the Doctor would have known as soon as you could tell him? Well guess what Rose, _he left you!_ So get over him! He's not coming back! All you've got is me now!"_

_Rose stared at John for a moment. Then she stomped out of the living room. John winced as he heard the door to their flat slam shut._

_John flung himself on the couch. Well that had gone terribly. He had really mucked things up now._

_John looked around the room. They had only been living here a few months. After they got engaged they had moved out of the mansion. They planned on finding a house, eventually. They wanted to travel the stars in their TARDIS before settling down. Now John wasn't even sure if Rose would still want that with him._

_John replayed in his mind what Rose confessed about Bad Wolf. She was like Jack now. She could die, but she came back. It didn't sound painful like Jack described it. Just a soothing golden light, calling her back to the land of the living. She would out live John by hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. She was doomed to watch everyone around her grow old while she stayed young._

_How could he have been so blind? Had he really missed all the signs? And why had Rose never told him? They were married. They were supposed to be a team now. Didn't she trust him?_

_The worst part was that it hadn't had to happen to her. But the Doctor had tried to escape watching Rose grow old and die, and by doing so had cursed her to suffer that very fate._

_John clenched his fists. He was still angry at Rose. She should have told him. They were married now. Did she think he wouldn't notice eventually? Did she think that he was too stupid to figure it out? Weren't married couples supposed to be honest with each other? How many times has she killed herself, just so he wouldn't see her injuries?_

_Nobody could blame John for his angry words, could they? He was hurt, angry, and just a little scared. He had watched his wife die in a pool of her own blood, only for her to wake up a few minutes later. And now he knew it was going to keep happening, possibly forever, while he would grow old and __die. He probably had fifty or sixty years left, if he was being optimistic. The blink of an eye compared to how long she had now. One day he would be nothing more than a forgotten memory, lost in the mind of a woman ancient beyond comprehension._

_John stayed up all night, hoping Rose would come back. She didn't._

_When sunlight started to stream through the windows, John gave up. Reluctantly, he ate breakfast. Without Rose, the flat felt cold and empty. His breakfast tasted bland (expect for the banana, of course)._

_John stalled as long as he could. He found as many excuses to remain at the flat as he could. He changed suits three different times, re-ruffled his hair twice, and paced around the flat, randomly tidying things up._

_Finally, John ran out of excuses to stay. He couldn't hide forever (the Doctor certainly wouldn't)._

_John walked out of the flat . . ._

_. . . and was blinded by the flashes of a million cameras. Reporters fired questions too rapidly for John to comprehend, shoving microphones into his face._

"_John, can you tell me . . ?"_

"_Mr. Smith, what has . . ?"_

"_. . . between yourself and Rose?"_

"_. . . over?"_

"_Wait, what?" John was confused. What was going on?_

"_. . . is it really over between you and Rose Tyler?"_

"_What? No!" Why would everyone think he and Rose were breaking up? "And it's Rose Smith, not Tyler."_

_John pushed his way through the sea of reporters._

_This was getting insane. John didn't understand humans. Everyone dreamed of growing up to be rich and famous, but why? There was no glory in everyone recognizing his face, and the lack of privacy was unsettling._

_John finally couldn't take the roar of a million interrogators anymore. He reached for the gun that was strapped to his waist. He had originally protested, but with Rose going on missions so __frequently,he found he was grateful he had been forced to carry it around._

_John aimed his gun at the sky and fired. Though he was loath to admit it, he was finding guns more useful all the time. He was starting to see why humans were so fond of them. He would never shoot anyone, though. It was just more effective in silencing the reporters than yelling "Shut up!"_

_It worked. The voices instantly died down. For a moment everyone stared in stunned silence at John. He had used his gun to silence crowds at Torchwood meetings, but this was the first time he had used it to shut up civilians._

_Well they had a story now. Maybe they would sod off._

_John pushed his ways through the sea of stunned reporters. He stalked down the streets of London until he reached Torchwood._

_Everyone was silent as they watched their second in command storm across the lobby to the lift. John could tell they were avoiding him. Every time the lift stopped to let someone else on, they backed away, They mumbled excuses of not wanting to slow him down, of waiting for their friend on the other lift, or that they would take the stairs because they should exercise more anyway._

_At last John reached his office. Leticia was already there, quietly organizing papers._

"_Have you seen the morning news yet, sir?" asked Leticia._

"_No." answered John._

"_I think you should probably see it, sir." Leticia picked up a newspaper and handed it to John._

_John looked at the paper._

_Occupying most of the front page was a photograph of Rose storming out of their flat in tears. In big black letters above the image was the headline. IS IT OVER ALREADY?_

_John's eyes flicked through the article._

Shouts could be heard last night from the flat of newlyweds John and Rose Smith. The couple . . .

_John stopped reading and slammed the paper on his desk._

_The papers got it wrong. He and Rose were most definitely_ not_ over. It didn't matter if Rose lived for millions of years after he was dead and gone. What mattered was that they had now. He would find Rose and fix things with her. He fully planned on them staying together until the day he died. He would make sure Rose knew how much he loved her._

_Rose would never forget him or his love for her. John would make sure of it._

* * *

Rose walked swiftly down the halls of the Preachers' base to the holding cells. Martha walked beside her, telling Rose what they knew about this latest man claiming to be the Doctor.

Rose barely heard Martha. Her mind was racing. Her scan for alien technology had picked up something last night. She had gotten Martha to send out a few operatives to check it out. She didn't want to get her hopes up yet, but, she couldn't help thinking that maybe, at long last, she was going to be able to escape from John and his reign of terror.

"He came in the late afternoon. Said you sent him." said Martha. "We did the standard routine. Gave him a brief history of the world since the Doctor left. He's been in the cells all night."

Rose wished John would just give up. Hadn't he figured out by now that sending imposter Doctors wouldn't work if he wanted to infiltrate the Preachers? He kept sending them though.

They reached a sealed holding cell. Martha typed a code into the keypad. The keypad flashed green and beeped. After a second the door unsealed with a hiss and slid open.

"He's here." Martha declared. "He didn't say much. Just that he's the Doctor, he's got two hearts. He did mention something about other universes. And for some reason he kept babbling about Ianto. Said they've met before."

"Thanks Martha."

Martha appeared to hesitate for a moment before speaking again. "You know I'll stay with you, if you want." she offered.

Rose smiled in gratitude, but she could feel how brittle her grin was. "No. I need to do this on my own. And anyway, I'm the only one besides John left on earth who's met the Doctor. I'll be sure to tell you if it's really him."

"Alright, if you're sure." Martha nodded reluctantly. "Just remember. If it is him, Ianto wants a go at him."

Rose and Martha chuckled. It was no secret that Ianto despised the Doctor. The Welshman blamed the Time Lord for John Smith's presence in this universe, and everything that had gone wrong because of it.

Though Rose wanted to defend the Doctor, a part of her (larger than she like to admit) reluctantly agreed with Ianto. The Doctor had never intended for any of this to happen, but he _had_ caused it. It he hadn't been so attached to his current form that he poured all his excess regeneration energy into his hand, the metacrisis would never have happened. John would never have been created, and the world wouldn't be the bloody mess it currently was.

Rose didn't realize her laughter had turned into sobs until she felt the moisture on her cheeks.

Rose took a deep breath and wiped her tears away. She continued to take in deep gulps of air until her tears subsided.

Best get this over with.

Rose gestured for Martha to leave. Rose preferred to interrogate the Doctor's imposters alone. Alone she could pretend for just a few precious seconds that the man she was questioning really was the Doctor, come to save her yet again.

Rose watched Martha leave, they turned to the door. Taking one last breath, Rose schooled her features into the emotionless mask she had been forced to master over the years. She took one step, then another, forcing herself to go forward. She crossed the threshold and entered the cell. Who had John sent this time?

It was the young man she ran into yesterday. They weird one in the tweed jacket. He was still wearing the bowtie.

Rose felt oddly disappointed upon seeing who the Doctor's latest impersonator was. She had liked the weird stranger from yesterday. He had kind, mysterious eyes, and he had seemed sweet. Had it really been nothing more than an act?

Rose shook her head. She had missed the signs, and they had been fairly obvious. He had called her "Tyler" instead of "Smith." He had shown her kindness untainted by fear of being seen.

_Get on with it, Rose._ She would have plenty of time to puzzle over this man later, once she had determined if he was a threat to the Preachers or not.

"Martha tells me you say you're the Doctor." There. Start with a statement. Show no emotion. See how he reacts.

The man's face lit up. How had someone like this wound up working for John?

"Yeah, that's me. The Doctor. How are you, Rose?" he said.

"You should know right now that you're not the first one John has sent claiming to be the Doctor." Rose said. "Promise to leave and never contact or return to earth again, and maybe we'll let you leave here alive."

"Rose! It's really me. The Doctor. And where is 'here,' exactly?"

"Like I'd tell you where we are." Rose scoffed. "If you're really the Doctor, then you will know why I have a hard time believing it."

"Yes, yes. Breaching the walls between universes is very bad. Like both universes would collapse bad."

"So how can you be here?" _Please prove it. Convince me you're the Doctor. I need him._

"It's a long story."

"We've got all the time in the world."

"My universe did collapse."

Rose stared at him. His universe collapsed? Really? John was getting sloppy if he thought she

would buy such a thoroughly ridiculous story.

Rose's mask must have slipped, because the man saw her disbelief.

"No, really." he insisted. "The TARDIS exploded. It cracked reality. Eventually it couldn't hold together and collapsed. I had to reboot the universe. I flew the Pandorica into the exploding TARDIS. I got trapped on the wrong side of the cracks, in the Void. I suppose the force of the explosion flung me all the way across the Void into this universe. I'm not exactly sure. I'm still working it out."

Maybe John had planted a tracking device on the man, because he obviously didn't care about having a believable cover story. Oh well. Good thing the base had over a dozen different cloaking devices and signal-dampening fields from as many different planets working simultaneously to hide the base from John's people.

May as well keep the fake Doctor talking. Maybe he would say something useful. "What's a Pandorica? How could it 'reboot' the universe?"

"It's this big box that was hidden under Stonehenge. All my enemies teamed up because they thought I blew up the universe. They built it. The perfect prison. You couldn't even escape by dying. That's how I rebooted the universe. The energy in the Pandorica that forced its prisoner to stay alive."

Had John been drunk when he made up this cover story? Well, back to business then, since the man before her was sticking to this rubbish. "Right. You'll have to do better than that mate, if you want me to believe you're the Doctor."

"It's completely true! Humans! Don't you have any faith? If you need more proof, I gave you my jacket. Look at it. That should be proof enough for you."

"Yeah? How could a jacket prove you're the Doctor?"

"Bigger on the inside pockets. My sonic and psychic paper are in them."

Shit. If this was the Doctor (wishful thinking), they would need to retrieve the jacket before John found it. The last thing they needed was for Rose's husband to discover the Time Lord's presence. "We'll you'll have to think of something else, because I lost it."

"You lost it?"

"Better that I not turn up at home wearing a stranger's jacket." Rose answered shortly. "Too bad. Think of something else."

"The first time I met you, you were in a basement, surrounded by shop window dummies. I grabbed your hand-"

John didn't seriously think Rose was that stupid, did he? "John's got all the Doctor's memories up until he was created. Think of something else."

"The first time on Bad Wolf Bay, our connection cut me off before I could finish speaking. The second time, you asked me how that sentence was going to end-"

"John remembers the first time. He was there the second time."

For the next hour the "Doctor" fired memory after memory of the times Rose and the Doctor shared in the TARDIS.

Rose was impressed by how thorough John had been with this one. He knows about every trip they had been on. If it wasn't for his ridiculous story about flying a mystical prison into the TARDIS as she exploded, she may have believed him. God knew she wanted to believe it was him.

"Please, Rose. It's me, I swear it is."

If only it was true. "That's what every one of your predecessors said."

Rose couldn't take it anymore. This was reawakening too many memories she preferred to keep buried. She turned to the door. She just needed a few minutes alone to pull herself together again. Then she would finish this.

"Wait!"

Rose paused at the threshold. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn't let him see that she was cracking. She didn't bother turning around as she spoke. "I'm listening."

"Think back. New Year's Day, two thousand and five, just after midnight. You were walking with your mum. There was a man in the shadows. You though he'd had too much to drink. He said 'I bet you're going to have a really great year.' Remember him?"

Yes. Rose remembered. She had thought he was just another bloke who had had too much to drink. All the same, she spent the next few months clinging to his words, praying he was right. Then the Doctor swooped in. She didn't think of the man in the shadows much after that. That Christmas, after they defeated the Sycorax, sitting in her mum's flat, she mused that the man was right. Then the Doctor entered the flat. She instantly recognized him as her man in the shadows. She know enough about timelines to know better than to ask the Doctor about it, though. She never had found out why the Doctor crossed the timelines like that.

"Yeah. What's he got to do with anything?" asked Rose.

"That was me, Rose. And John won't remember it, because for me it was after I left you the second time. I'd had one hell of a year, wandering on my own. I was dying, and I had to see you one last time. Rose Tyler. My pink and yellow human." The man looked Rose straight in the eyes.

Rose's eyes met the man's, and all her doubts faded away. It was his eyes that gave it away. This man's eyes were bright green, but Rose knew these eyes. She had gazed into them a thousand times before, when they were ice blue and then warm brown. These were the eyes of the Doctor.

This man was the Doctor. Her Doctor. He came back.

"Oh my God. It's you. Doctor. It's really you." Rose felt a rush of emotions she had been so careful to lock away over the years. She couldn't stop staring at the man. The Doctor. After all this time, he was here. How was she supposed to feel? Angry? Sad? Happy? Relieved? Ashamed?

Rose hadn't realized how close in proximity she had come to the Doctor until she felt his fingers brush against her own.

"Yes Rose. It's really me." said the Doctor.

Rose looked down to see she had unconsciously twined her fingers together with the Doctor's. He had a whole new body, and yet their hands were still a perfect fit. They could run away together. They could travel the stars. It would be like the past decade had never happened . . .

Rose snatched her hand away. No. She was not going to do this. He couldn't help her, and if he stayed he would be in just as much danger as anyone else she had sent to the Preachers to be "deported." The best thing for everyone would be if the Doctor just left.

Rose gave herself a single moment to memorize the face of this new Doctor. Part of her was screaming in protest at what she was about to do, but the rest of her stayed strong. This was for the best, for everyone.

"You can't stay here." murmured Rose.

"What?" asked the Doctor.

She had to be louder this time. More convincing. "You can't stay here. John will find you. He'll capture you and just keep killing you until you run out of regenerations."

"I won't let him." said the Doctor.

"No, Doctor." Rose shook her head. "John rules the entire planet. No where on earth is safe for you. Not now, not ever. You've got to leave."  
"But I've just found you!" the Doctor cried in protest.

"No. I can't let you stay. You're too important. The other universe needs you. The Preachers will smuggle you to another star system. You can figure out how to get home from there."

"Not without you."

"You've got to."

"You could come with me. We could go home together."

God that was tempting. She so desperately wanted to give in. She could say yes. She should. "No. I'm needed here."

"Then let me stay."

She had to end this now, before she gave in. "No. It was wonderful to see you again, Doctor. Goodbye."

Rose turned and walked out of the room. She could barely believed what she had just done, but it was for the best. The Doctor couldn't stay, and she couldn't just run off with him. The Preachers needed her.

Rose felt moisture in her eyes. Angrily she wiped away the threatening tears. No. She was not going to cry. She had already shed more than enough tears for the Doctor. It was time to move on.

* * *

The Doctor wanted Rose to come back. He had managed to convince her that he really was the Time Lord she had once traveled with. But then she decided that he should just be shipped off-planet like she intended before she know he was the Doctor. He wanted her to come back. He needed to talk her into letting him stay. (He needed her.)

The Doctor was still tied to the damn chair. Rose hadn't untied him. He did his best to occupy his mind. Anything to fill the horrible emptiness in his head where the TARDIS had once been. His mind had never felt this empty, even after the Time War. He wondered what had happened to his Old Girl. She was probably still back in the other universe, alone and forgotten. Left to collect dust while waiting for a pilot that wouldn't ever return.

The Doctor heard footsteps coming down the hall. Someone entered his cell.

"Rose?" The Doctor did his best to not sound too hopeful. He looked up. It wasn't Rose.

"Sorry. Rose is busy at the moment." A man with a Welsh accent said. "Martha tells me you're the Doctor."

Ianto Jones stood just inside the cell, watching the Doctor with wary, calculating eyes.

"Yes. I am the Doctor." declared the Doctor. "Hello again, Ianto Jones. I'm still positive I met you before yesterday."

"Well I'm positive yesterday was the first time I've ever seen you in my life." Something rang false in Ianto's pleasant tone.

The Doctor studied Ianto closely. He looked like he was in his forties. His dull blue eyes spoke of pain and loss though, so the Doctor reckoned Ianto was younger. Suffering could add years to a person. Ianto was probably in his late thirties.

"I've been waiting to meet you for quite a while, Doctor." continued Ianto.

"Oh?" The Doctor didn't like the angry edge in Ianto's tone.

"Yes. Because Rose and Martha, and Jake too, when he was still alive. They all believed you're a hero. But you're not." Ianto paused, before continuing. "You're not a hero. Everyone in the Preachers knows your story, Doctor. The man who wanders the stars in his time machine. They only hear what they want to, though. They ignore that you stole the time machine, cast out by your own people. They ignore how you ended a war by killing both sides, including your _entire species. _And they don't even acknowledge that it's your fault the world is so fucked up because you created John Smith! Do you have any idea how many people have died because of you!?" Ianto was shouting by the end.

The Doctor winced. Ianto's rant was causing memories to awaken that were best left dormant.

The Doctor suspected that Ianto had a second reason for his angry words, though. He hoped he was wrong. He know he was right, though. So instead of deflecting Ianto's accusations like he normally would, he decided to go with the brutal honesty of reality. Hopefully Ianto would be too angry to attempt to dig deeper.

"Of course I do. I'm a Time Lord. I can see the timelines. I feel it every time a life is extinguished because of me, and each death is a new Hell for me." End with a question. It was more important to Ianto than the Doctor's confession. "Who have you lost, Ianto?"

Ianto was silent. He looked surprised. Then the surprise melted into grief.

"Her name was Lisa." Ianto answered softly. "We were married for nearly a decade before she was killed."

"I'm sorry." said the Doctor. He knew all too well the grief of losing someone that close.

"Sorry? Is that all you can say? She's dead because of you! And all you can say is 'sorry?' Sorry won't bring her back!" Ianto shouted. Then he froze. He looked shocked, as if he was just now realizing the truth of his own words.

Ianto turned to look at the Doctor.

"She's gone. Lisa. Oh God. _She's gone."_ Ianto's voice cracked at the end.

The Doctor could see Ianto was moments away from breaking down. He didn't know how long Lisa had been dead, but clearly it was only now dawning on Ianto that his wife was not coming back.

Ianto stumbled forward onto his knees.

Before the Doctor could react, the Welshman had broken down in tears before the Time Lord.

The Doctor just sat there. Give him as army of Daleks or a legion of Cyberman any day. He could handle that, easily. This, on the other hand, was more complicated. What the hell was he supposed to do when people were crying? Humans could be so complex, and so different. What helped on person could hurt another.

In Ianto's case, he had been grasping onto a desperate hope for quite a while now, to keep the sense of loss at bay. And now all the sorrow he held back was pouring out all at once. He probably needed to release his pent up grief.

So the Doctor just sat there, still tied to the chair. He was completely silent, and let Ianto cry, uninterrupted. He watched as tears streaked the Welshman's face.

Ianto kept crying.

* * *

**Please Review! :)**


End file.
